Why Saturday came and went

The ABC's decision to dump an innovative sports show in favour of regional
radio has upset fans, writes Larissa Dubecki.

The winds of change have been blowing yet again at ABC 774, with the
appointment of a new general manager.

But they've left fans of a footy show with a difference, When Saturday
Comes, out in the cold and questioning the direction the station is taking
with its weekend line-up.

The omnipresent Francis Leach - some call him the ABC's answer to Eddie
Maguire - was shocked when he was told that his two-year labour of love would go
to air for the last time on Grand Final day.

Several weeks down the track, dismay over the impending
demise of When Saturday Comes
is still making its presence strongly felt on the 774 online
guestbook.

"Yesterday when I checked the guestbook, nine of the 20
latest comments were protests about the demise of When Saturday Comes
," wrote Lynne (not Leach's
wife, 774 presenter Lynne Haultain, he hastens to explain).

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"Every time I really start to enjoy something on ABC it seems to become the
subject of another bizarre management sacking," lamented James Dimond.

The confusion of the converted was loud and clear: Why had 774 canned a
unique program that appealed to football fans and non-fans alike?

The man behind the move, 774's new general manager of local radio, Ian
Mannix, says the reasons are complex.

"On the weekends we're making some changes, and they're all tied up together.
Centrally, the vision for 774 is to attract and hold a 40-plus audience."

Officially, When Saturday Comes has been sacrificed in the name of regional
radio.

From October, the ABC's seven regional stations will be given their own
breakfast program for the first time in eight years.

Following breakfast, Tonya Roberts' Saturday morning lifestyle show -
routinely the best performer in the weekend line-up with its mixture of
gardening, finance, health and pet care - will be extended from 8.30am to
midday.

When Saturday Comes ' budget will fund the changes, although its appeal to a
younger audience has added to its expendability.

According to Leach, who was asked by former station manager Tony Walker to
provide a show for the 25 to 35 age group, "(774 management) said it's a great
program, it just doesn't have a home there. I understand that they want to do
more regional broadcasting and this place is run on a shoestring, but this place
should also be about ideas."

Mannix has praise for When Saturday Comes but says it doesn't fit his
vision.

"It was innovative, it was colourful. For many years ABC has focussed on
over-40s broadcasting, but from time to time managers have asked for niche
broadcasting to see how it goes - part of our charter is that we will be
innovative and risk-taking."

A thirtysomething occasional announcer at the ABC who did not want to be
named said 774 was being short-sighted in its neglect of younger listeners.

"They refuse to acknowledge that there are a whole lot of people brought up
on JJJ who are growing out of it and they should be thinking about strategically
hanging on to them."

Friends of the ABC Victorian president Terry Laidler, while not wanting to
comment on programming decisions, sees the recent controversy as a case of the
774 audience pendulum swinging yet again.

"In the early '90s there were complaints the station was pushing back into
that 35 to 50 age group and it was too young," he said.

Mannix seems defensive when discussing the axing of
When Saturday Comes ,
weighing into discussion with a pre-emptive statement: "As the new manager I am
entitled to make different judgments about what I want the station to focus on,
and the 40-plus audience is important."

He's come in for some stick, to the point of intervening on the guestbook
after one particularly vituperative entry invited him to ride with the
devil.

He says he believes most people in their 30s listen to commercial radio but
may come back to the ABC through an interest in lifestyle programming that
develops with age.

But those left unexcited at the prospect of extended discussion about
colourbond sheds and the differences between annuities and allocated pensions
fear 774 is sacrificing the "innovation" part of its charter.

"774 have had around five changes to Saturday mornings in the last decade. It
seems that Saturday and Sunday mornings have become the playground of managers
bent on showing that they have a vision and can be seen to be acting upon
it,"says Leach.

As for innovation on the revamped weekend 774, Mannix says its a case of
"watch this space".

The only change on the record is the Sunday arts program, which will be
turned into a statewide affair encompassing regional arts.

Mannix was a program manager at the station from 1996 to 1998 (with the
hangover effect he occasionally lapses into use of the now-outlawed term "3LO")
and speaks evangelically about putting the local back into local radio, although
he likes to say it is a process of "evolution not revolution".

The station's particular version of social Darwinism has involved extensive
consultation with focus groups over the past six months, who have given the
imprimatur for emphasis on pet care, gardening and finances.

And the people's democratic republic of 774 is likely to continue, with more
focus groups currently under way. They are a hallmark, Mannix emphasises, not
just of his tenure, but of good local radio.

But can emphasising audience feedback create a generic product? "I wouldn't
use that term. It is clearly connected with the audience. The ratings show that
these (lifestyle programs) are our most successful programs at any time on ABC
radio in Victoria, so clearly the audience does want that. They want a
particular type of tone to wake up to on Saturday morning as well."

Sadly for Leach and his listeners, that tone doesn't include the mix of
jokes, contemporary music and his "coaches in the outer", although Mannix says
he would like to see Grandstand pick up some of the segments.

"Had there been a very significant number (of complaints) we might have
changed our minds but there hasn't been," said Mannix.

"There has been a large number but there hasn't been enough to make me think
I've made the wrong decision."

Postscript: The latest AC Nielsen
ratings survey, released last week, revealed the audience share for When
Saturday Comes is up from 8.3 to 9.8 per
cent - or from 62,000 to 75,000 - for its Saturday 10am to midday
timeslot.